HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1-36.-The true centralisation. We separate the nation from the world not to surround it with a false patriotism which means self-interest, but that in the fulfilment of the Divine purpose and law we may be the greater blessing to mankind. I. The true centre of the life of the community is THE RELIGIOUS CENTRE. Jeru- salem as the sacred city. The secular and religious are not opposed. The man of God is the true man. There is no true strength and prosperity where there is an inversion of the Divine order. Put the centre where it ought to be. There have been men who have sanctified the earthly life in its highest forms by their recognition of the supreme claim of religion. II. WILLINGNESS is the only sure foundation on which the Church's glory can rest. We may appeal to Divine direction in the selection of our spiritual leaders; but it is those who willingly offer themselves who should be culled to occupy the foremost places at Jerusalem. III. While there is a boundless variety in human capability, there is a possibility of DISTRIDUTION which shall find room for all. The highest wealth and faculty should be gathered to the centre. The Church of God should present to the world the most conspicuous exnrnples of sanctified genius and faithfully-used opportunity.-R. 1.'Il:E BOOK OF NEllEMlAit. [CH. X[, 1-M.
,·ers. 1, 2.-Dutg: its peril, its ea:cdlencg, and us reward. We learn from Neh. Yii. 4 that "the city was large and great, but the people were few therein." Lees them 50,000 inhabitants were scattered over Judrea; but these would not have been too many to have occupied Jerusalem itself. It was a matter of the first importance that the metropolis should be well supplied with those who would worslnp in her courts, and with those who would guard her walls. It was therefore the aim of N e~err.iiah and other patriotic men to promote a migration from the outlying towns am: villages to Jerusalem. "The rulers dwelt there," and they were anxious that m:i,ny more should come in to swell the population. This ingathering supplies us with three lessons. I. THAT THE PLACE OF PRIVILEGE IS THE POST OF DUTY AND OF DANGER. Jerusalem was "the holy city" (ver. 1). It was "the city which God had chosen;" the place of his special manifestation; the spot where, as nowhere else, he could be approached and worshipped. Thither all who feared his name and sought his favour came with their offerings; there they presented the best they could b1ing on his altar, and bowed before his face. But this "holy city," where the holy people might be well pleased and be, rightly proud to dwell, was (1) the place where special duty awaited the inhabitants. "The houses were not builded" (eh. vii. 4); the ground was waste; ruins were everywhere about ; there was hard work to be done from centre to circumference. Moreover, the walls had to be guarded ; probably night and day there was vigilant watching to be observed, that there might be no possible surprise. It was also (2) the post of special danger. Other places would be too insignificant to be attacked. If the enemy struck at all, Jerusalem would be his mark. So is it ever. The great city has many special privileges, but it has many peculiar perils, and some duties which are all its own. They who minister unto the Lord find even in their holy office obligations which impose the most serious responsibilities, and subtle spiritual dangers which call for unusual vigilance and prayer. It is well, indeed, to belong to those to whom God is near, with whom he dwells; but it is necessary to remember that side by side with special privilege there is always found (a) some special obligations, and (b) some peculiar perils. Il. THAT DDTY MAY :BE DONE WITH VARIOUS DEGREES OJI' WORTHINESS AND ACCEPT- .A:BLENESS. There were two ways by which Jerusalem was replenished. They" cast lots to bring one of ten to dwell" there (ver. 1); others II willingly offered them- selves" (ver. 2)-they volunteered without being drawn. Looking at this procedure as a matter of morals, we should certainly estimate the action of the latter more highly than that of the former. These did well, but those did better. It was a right and an acceptable thing for men with their wives and families to leave their homes where they were doing well, and where they preferred to stay, in order to act up to their agreement with their fellows ; it was a worthier and a more acceptable thing for others not to wait for this moral compulsion, but to offer themselves, and go of their own accord from the village where they were prosperoUB, comfortable, and out of the reach of attack, to live in the city where hardship and danger might look them in the face. With us, as with them, duty is done with different degrees of Divine approval. Secular duty, that of the business or the home, may be done faithfully but unre- ligiously, or it may be done conscientiously because religioUBly, all being done not as unto man only or chiefly, but II unto the Lord" (Eph. vi. 7). Sacred duty may be done as a matter of obligation only, or it may be discharged with willingness, even with an eager delight, becaUBe the purest and highest aims are kept :well in view of the soul The same acts, outwardly measured, are of very diffe:e~t weight in worthiness, tried in the balances of God. And sometimes of men, for it 1s true-- III. THAT DISINTERESTED DEEDS WILL OFTEN DBAW DOWN THE BENEDICTION 011' OUB KIND. ".And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves," &c. (ver. 2). The inhabitants of Jerusalem evidently discriminated betwe~n those who were actuated by the more, and those governed by the less, generoUB mducements; and to the former they accorded hearty thanks-they " blessed them." Concerning popular appreciation, it is well to learn from the experience of the pa~t, or we shall smfer injury and loss. We must (1) neither reckon upon it as certam, nor (2) de- spise it as worthless. We should (a) pitch_ our life so high that, if needful we Cllll ffll, XI, 1-36.] THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 125